1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system power management, and more particularly to a system and method for dynamic information handling system prioritization.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems are often placed in a common location to ensure an adequate power supply and cooling. For example, plural information handling systems sometimes share one or more “racks” placed in a data center so that the systems take up a reduced amount of space. In modular chassis systems, plural information handling systems share a common chassis under the control of a chassis management controller (CMC) that, for instance, manages the power budget of the chassis. One example of a modular chassis system is a blade system that has a blade chassis populated by plural blade information handling systems which typically share a common power supply and cooling system. CMC firmware manages the sharing of blade chassis resources, such as by making blade power allocation decisions, throttling blade information handling systems installed in a chassis and responding to system events like power supply unit failure. Typically, the CMC firmware algorithm that makes resource allocation decisions relies upon a priority rating associated with each blade information handling system. For example, a higher priority might be assigned to a blade information handling system that supports an e-mail exchange server than one that supports information storage in a database. With such a priority example, if a power need arises, the CMC firmware throttles the blade information handling system that supports the database before throttling the blade information handling system that supports e-mail. Such power needs might arise where a chassis power supply is lost or removed or where an additional blade information handling system powers on.
One advantage of modular chassis systems is that they are scalable, meaning that information handling system modules may be added to a modular chassis as information processing needs increase. One example of a tool that helps to scale information handling system resources is the use of virtual machines. Virtual machines run as separately identifiable information handling systems on top of an operating system and physical information handling system. For example, a single blade information handling system might support operation of multiple virtual machines, each of which are managed as individual information handling systems. As various virtual machines are activated and deactivated, physical resources of various blade information handling systems within a modular blade chassis are used to support operation of the virtual machines. Dynamic provisioning of virtual machines helps to ensure that resources of a modular chassis system are efficiently used. Further, migration of virtual machines, such as with VMotion, allows flexible assignment of virtual machines to blade information handling systems to adapt as blade information handling systems are added to a chassis.